


Ain't It Like Thunder Under Earth?

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cross-Generation Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, HP ScarryFest 2021, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstanding, Mutual Pining, Scarry, age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29823621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: What Harry isn’t able to handle is his growing…jealousy over Scorpius. Scorpius — his son’s best friend, his son’s boyfriend. A young man 25 bloody years younger than him and Harry’s what? Got a crush? As a 46-year-old retired Auror? Pathetic, Potter, at best.Creepy, at worst.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18
Collections: HP ScarryFest 2020-2021





	Ain't It Like Thunder Under Earth?

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Harry isn’t one to be jealous of his adult children, but he can’t help feeling a little jealous of Al because Harry is really attracted to his boyfriend, Scorpius. Imagine his surprise, when one day Al brings home his partner, *who isn’t Scorpius*! I imagine Scorpius also being there when Al introduces his new partner to Harry and just smirking at Harry over Al’s shoulder. Or Harry realizing that all this time Scorpius *has* been flirting with him, and it wasn’t just his imagination!

At age 43, after Al had graduated Hogwarts and Lily had finished her fifth year, Harry Potter retires from the Aurors. Twenty-some years of service, almost 15 as Head Auror and he is tired. Harry is tired of fighting, tired of being the one to catch the bad guy — being the one everyone turns to, counting on him to do _everything_ for them. Harry had been doing it for 30 years since he was 14 and Voldemort rose from the cauldron. The decision to retire is an easy one but it was made even easier by the support of his family: Ron (who had quit after two years to help George with WWW), and Hermione; Ginny (even though they are separated) and the kids encourage him when he’d first mentioned it because they worry seeing Harry be just so _tired_ all the time.

They all ignore the reactions of the Wizarding World — who still can’t leave him alone 26 years after he destroyed the Dark Lord — when Harry spends all of his time at home, with his garden, with his children (when the boys were home), with all of the assorted Weasleys instead of in the public spotlight. 

At age 46, Harry Potter makes the choice to return to Hogwarts. Unlike his decision to leave the Aurors, this one he makes on his own. Lily had graduated; none of his children are students at the school, and he only has one nephew in attendance. The current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is leaving and Headmistress McGonagall had owled Harry that spring.

Even though the kids are grown and graduated, James, Al and Lily come to Saturday dinner with their parents twice a month, as well as attend Mrs. Weasley’s weekly Sunday lunch where the doors are always open to whichever family members want to drop by. 

On a Saturday in early August, Harry’s sitting at the table surrounded by his children, Ginny, Teddy, Victoire, and Scorpius Malfoy, who’s been a matched set to Albus since they started Hogwarts. He feels the most content he ever has in his entire life. Once everyone starts putting down utensils and conversation swells again, Harry makes his decision to tell them then and there.

“I have news,” his voice is raised just enough to be heard by everyone and their conversations taper off as they all turn to look at him. Harry rolls his eyes at the concern on some of their faces. “It’s nothing bad, you guys, wow. Just I, uh — well, I got a new job. I start in a couple of weeks and I’ll live there during the week so I won’t be home as often except for the weekends. Unless there’s a feast or if I have a lot of grading to finish, but I’ll try my best to be home every weekend.”

They all stare at him before a wide, soft smile breaks across Ginny’s face and she reaches for his hand.

“You’re going back to Hogwarts, Harry?”

The gentle love in her voice makes him squeeze her hand tightly and he gives a watery laugh with a nod and a smile.

“Yeah, Gin. McGonagall asked me when Professor Hitchens made her decision in the spring and — I said yes.”

There’s a squeal from the other end of the table and Lily launches herself out of her chair and into Harry’s lap. She grabs her father in a tight hug before she slaps his arm with a pout.

“You just had to wait until _after_ I graduated to go teach at Hogwarts, didn’t you, Dad? You could have been my professor! It would have been AMAZING!” 

Everyone laughs as Harry lets her sit on his leg with a grin. Scorpius leans back in his chair, throwing his arm across the back of Al’s seat with a small smirk curling on the edge of his lips.

“You would have had to call him _Professor Potter_ , Lil; you would have _hated_ it. He’d have to have control of his classroom; you wouldn’t be able to do whatever you wanted.”

Lily sniffs, crosses her arms and gives him a playful sneer.

“I’m not a child, Malfoy. I know that.”

“But you are the _baby_ , Lily.”

Al throws an elbow into Scorpius’ side.

“Hush, you. She’ll just have to pester Hugo about what Dad’s like as a professor. There’s still a Weasley at Hogwarts.”

“Your dad’s a great teacher, you lot,” Ginny butts in. ”He taught a load of us how to cast the Patronus charm when he was 15. I think he’ll be able to handle anything and everything Hogwarts has to offer.”

* * *

Harry is, in fact, able to handle everything Hogwarts throws at him. The kids are great; he loves his classes. He easily settles into the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts, gets used to having his old professors as co-workers, gets used to _Draco Malfoy_ as a co-worker. Draco Malfoy, who looks at Harry like he knows something Harry doesn’t and is endlessly amused by it whenever their paths cross (which isn’t terribly often as Harry avoids the library at almost all costs).

What Harry isn’t able to handle is his growing… _jealousy_ over Scorpius. Scorpius — his son’s best friend, his son’s boyfriend. A young man 25 _bloody_ years younger than him and Harry’s what? Got a crush? As a 46-year-old retired Auror? Pathetic, Potter, at best. _Creepy_ , at worst. He berates himself even as he scowls at Al’s most recent letter. Harry’s glad Al’s happy, honest he is, because it radiates off the page as his son talks about the date he’d taken his partner on and that their Healing classes are going well. He just…has developed an unfortunate attraction to Scorpius. He’ll have to ignore it; there was nothing else to it.

A knock on his office door makes him frown and check the time: after dinner but not yet curfew. He wasn’t expecting any students but maybe something last minute had come up. Harry sighs and flicks his wand at the door, letting it slowly open for whoever had knocked. He’s expecting a student, another professor, his nephew, maybe. He’s _not_ expecting Scorpius Malfoy to step into his office and close the door behind him with a cheeky grin. Harry tilts his head to the side, confused.

“Scorpius. Why are you — were you visiting your dad?”

“Hey, Professor Potter.” He steps further into the room and holds the box he’s carrying out in front of him. “No, I’ll see Father later. I, um — Al said that you seemed stressed. In your letters. So, I made you treacle tart; I know it’s your favorite.”

Harry blinks at the earnest, open look on Scor’s face and smiles (hopes he doesn’t look too soppy).

“Thanks, Scor.” _Fuck_ , he hopes that didn’t sound as soft out loud as it had to him. Harry clears his throat and shoves some parchment aside so the younger man can put the sweet on his desk.”Drop it here. You didn’t have to do that; it’s just last-minute grading that I shouldn’t have let pile up. Don’t worry about me.” 

He huffs an embarrassed laugh, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. Scorpius puts the tart down, runs his finger over the edge of Harry’s desk, and looks down at him with a grin that’s softer than it was a minute ago.

“I wanted to. It was relaxing for me.” He pauses and looks down at his feet, brow furrowed before pinning Harry with his eyes. “I used to bake with my mother. I hope you enjoy it.” He taps his hand against Harry’s desk, planting it to balance himself and leaning to brush a kiss to Harry’s cheek. “Goodnight, Harry. I’ll see you at dinner on Saturday, yes?”

Harry nods slowly, brain furiously trying to process what was happening and coming up with nothing that made sense. Scorpius flashes him a grin and is back to the door by the time Harry speaks.

“Goodnight, Scorpius.”

Harry practically deflates in his chair once his door shuts, wand flicking up a locking charm as he stares at the treacle tart on his desk with a fair amount of confusion and shock.

“What the fuck?”

* * *

Harry takes breakfast in the Great Hall Saturday morning before he heads home for the rest of the weekend. He’s not expecting any mail but Al’s owl comes anyway, lands softly on his shoulder and sticks out his leg so Harry can relieve him of his burden. There are nerves tumbling in his stomach — did his son know about his attraction to Scorpius? Especially after that night earlier this week with the treacle tart. Surely his fondness for the young man was glaringly apparent and Scor had obviously gone home and told Albus about it. Harry heaves a sigh before opening the envelope. 

_Hey Dad!_

_I haven’t gotten your response to my letter earlier this week yet. But I wanted you and mum (she got a letter as well) to know to plan for an extra at family dinner Saturday night. I wanted to introduce you properly to my partner since Jamie and Lil already know._

_See you at dinner,_

_Al_

He’s doomed. Spectacularly, _spectacularly_ doomed. He excuses himself from breakfast and heads back to his rooms but Harry’s caught on the stairs by the elder Malfoy. 

“Potter!”

Harry sighs again, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses. 

“What is it, Malfoy?”

“Potter. Harry — Merlin knows we don’t get along. We’ll likely never get along but our sons do. Albus is a good kid; Scorpius is my only son, the only family I have. If you hurt my son in any way, I will make you regret it.”

Harry blinks at Malfoy in shock because he has no idea what the other is on about. How would Harry hurt Scorpius, except by fucking up his relationship with Al, which Harry has no intentions of doing? He is going to stay as far away from the situation as he possibly can without hurting his son's feelings. 

"Look, Malfoy-"

Draco cuts him off with a curt look as the stairs settle into place and they continue their way up to the second floor.

"I want to know nothing. _At all_. I'm just letting you know — hurt Scorpius and I will hang you. Understand?" 

Harry nods slowly and stares after Malfoy as he turns down the hall and stalks away.

_"What the fuck?"_

Did he just get threatened over his son's boyfriend? There's no way Al _and_ Malfoy knew. Right? Maybe he should back out of dinner; tell his family that he wasn't feeling well. Take the week to get his head on straight before he dealt with any of this again. 

He closes the portrait to his quarters (that had opened without his giving the password, bless it) and leans heavily against it. No. He couldn't cancel dinner the day of. Winky was surely already preparing for dinner and Kreacher, old as the elf was, would skin him alive if he canceled at such late notice. Besides that, who knew what Ginny would do. Harry sighs, rakes a hand through his hair, and, after double-checking that he has his wand and essentials, steps through the Floo back to his small cottage outside of London.

* * *

Harry lets out a sigh of relief when there's no one to greet him upon stepping out of the fireplace. He peeks his head into the kitchen to check on the elves, who glare him right back out on his way and he heads upstairs to take a shower. If he ever thought he could be in charge over even an elderly Kreacher, Harry had another thing coming. They'd come to an understanding — the elf grudgingly allows Harry to prepare desserts for their weekly dinners when he wants. Other than that, the elves are in charge. 

The warm water pounds on the back of Harry’s neck as he rests his head against the cool tile of the shower. _Malfoys._ It feels like Harry’s back in school, obsessing over a Malfoy again. Scorpius, Draco. He and Draco usually did well at simply avoiding each other nowadays. Until this morning, that is. Why did Malfoy seek him out like that? And threaten him? Maybe Harry just needs to put some space between Scorpius and himself. Yes, that’s a good plan. It would allow him to shake his weird, creepy crush on the young man.

He finishes his shower and dresses in his comfortable muggle clothes — an old, worn pair of denims and a Weasley sweater. Harry checks the time as he makes his way back downstairs where he settles in his armchair in the living room. The kids and Ginny should start trickling in soon, so he’ll take the peace and quiet while he can get it. A cup of tea pops into existence by his hand, prepared exactly how he likes it and Harry grins. Hermione may still get onto him about his elves (even though they are “free” and earn a wage) but neither Kreacher nor Winky wanted to go anywhere else. 

“Thank you,” he says to the empty room before he takes a sip and relaxes further into his chair. 

Is he prepared for Al to introduce Scorpius as his partner? No, not at all. Will he do anything for his son to be happy even at the expense of his own happiness? Absolutely yes. It’s just a small infatuation; he’d get over it. Al would continue to be happy. 

Everybody wins.  Except for Harry but he would be fine.

He’s just barely finished his tea when the fireplace flares green and Lily is stepping through into his living room, Ginny following quickly behind her. Ginny is interrogating their daughter about Al’s partner as they greet Harry with hugs. 

“He talks about them all the time, Mum. You know as much as I do.”

Lily sighs and turns pleading eyes on Harry, and he feels himself cave.

“Gin, just let Al tell us. They should be here soon. Leave Lily alone; she’s the wrong child to ask anyway. It’s not for her to tell.”

Ginny kisses his cheek and puts her hands on her hips.

“James would tell me, you know.”

Lily scoffs.

“He’s a mummy’s boy, mum. Of course he would tell you. Just wait for Al and Scorpius and leave me alone about it.”

Harry ignores the way his heart sinks into his stomach and wraps an arm around Lily’s shoulders, guiding her towards the couch.

“Okay, you two. Let’s wait for everybody else. Drink some tea, a glass of wine, maybe?” 

No sooner than he’s finished speaking, a pot of tea, a bottle of wine, teacups and wine glasses appear on the coffee table. Harry gestures with a grin.

“See? Winky agrees.”

Both of the redheaded women roll their eyes (identically, Harry observes) and pour themselves drinks. A glass of Ogden’s appears where his tea had been and it gets an arch of Ginny’s brow.

“Hush, I’ve had a long week.”

This draws both of their attention to him and the rest of their wait is full of conversation about how things are at Hogwarts. The Floo flaring green once more makes them jump as James comes tumbling through as gracelessly as his father. He grins widely at them, bounding to his feet. James opens his mouth but is cut off by a knock on the front door.

“They’re here. All I got out of him was that they were apparating. I’ve got the door!”

He races to the front door and pulls it open as the rest of them follow.

“Hello, Al. Scorpius. Al’s girlfriend.”

Ginny cuffs him on the head and pulls James out of the doorway so the other three can actually come into the house. 

“Come on in.” 

They don’t make it too far. They all stand congregated in the front hall, a nervous-looking Al with a gorgeous young woman and Scorpius, who is leaning against the door. Harry stands behind his kids and ex-wife as they cluster around Al, who introduces his partner as one Ilse Weiss, daughter of Konrad Weiss, who played Quidditch with Viktor Krum. She’s studying Mediwizardry at St. Mungo’s with Al and Scorpius. There they’d met and gotten friendly and started dating. The partner he’d written Harry about in his courses. 

Ilse, _not Scorpius._

Before he can wrap his brain around that, Winky appears and tugs on his sleeve to tell him that dinner is ready and Harry clears his throat.

“Ilse, it’s wonderful to finally meet you. Al writes about you all of the time. But Winky says dinner is ready and you all know better than to keep Kreacher waiting…”

There’s a small stampede as they hurry towards the dining room, because Kreacher is as curmudgeonly as he ever had been. After a moment, Harry’s left in the entrance with only Scorpius, who has been staring him down with a small smirk the entire time. Harry sighs.

“So, you’re not dating Al.”

He feels a brief flash of satisfaction at the confusion that comes over Scorpius’ face.

“You thought I was dating _Al_? He’s my best friend and I — I’ve been flirting with _you_ for months. I just thought maybe you weren’t interested.”

“Wait, what?” Harry blinks. “You’ve been flirting with me?”

He’s never been good at identifying if someone was flirting with him but Harry definitely had not noticed Scorpius flirting. Scorpius sighs heavily.

“For _months_ , Harry. I made you treacle tart for Merlin’s sake! Father always said you were oblivious, but I was sure you had at least noticed that.” 

Harry laughs and steps close enough that he can feel the heat from Scorpius’ body. Scorpius, for his part, loops his fingers in Harry’s belt loops and pulls him _that_ much closer.

“I felt like a creepy old man with my _infatuation_ with my son’s boyfriend. Best friend.” He huffs and rolls his eyes. “Turns out, I’m just a creepy old man with a _mutual_ infatuation with my son’s best friend.”

He braces his hands on the door over Scorpius’ shoulders, taller only because Scor is practically lounging against the front door. The way Scorpius’ eyes lock on his lips sends heat tumbling through Harry’s stomach and he can’t help but lean in to kiss him.

“Oi, you two! You can make out later; come eat dinner!”

Scorpius laughs but leans up to press their lips together anyway before shoving Harry back. 

“Al’s right. Dinner, then we can revisit this once everyone else has left.”

Harry grins, takes Scorpius by the hand and makes his way to the dining room. They’re right; they’ve got more than enough time to figure this out. Figure _them out._ And Harry cannot wait. 

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of the HP ScarryFest 2021. The author will be revealed on 31st March 2021.


End file.
